Saturday: Toro Rosso is still far behind in 2010, but no longer last

Toro Rosso held its first qualifying session today as a chassis manufacturer. The team expected to perform slightly better on the timing sheet but is satisfied with the results.

Sébastien Buemi reached Q2 in the first Grand Prix of the season. He is ranked 15th, suffering from a lack of mileage in free practice. Alguersuari, for his part, is 18th, missing Q2 by a few tenths. The Spaniard made a few mistakes and hopes to do better tomorrow.

Sébastien Buemi – 15th and 15th:

« It’s a little better than what we were hoping for and in the end, we managed to fight on par with Petrov, Sauber, and the Williams. As always, I think I could have done better, but not a lot more… Two tenths faster, I think that was the maximum with what we had today. »

Tomorrow, the first race of the year, will be full of hope for me. I hope to score some points, meaning this season to break into the top 10. This involves moving up 5 places, and I think it’s doable with endurance. Anything is possible in F1…

Jaime Alguersuari – 16th and 18th:

« We were aiming to reach Q2, but I made a mistake on my fast lap on soft tires. The grip level was relatively low and pushing hard cost me a bit of time. There is still a good margin for improvement, so I hope to take advantage of it in the race and move up a bit. However, it seems complicated to score points for me. We will have to do better next time… »

Giorgio Ascanelli – Director:

I am disappointed with the performances. We were not able to get Sébastien [Buemi] running yesterday, and it showed in the times. However, we are not 17th and 18th as I thought, which is a positive point. Jaime [Alguersuari] experienced some traffic and made a few mistakes – which can happen. He is capable of better.

« Regarding the race pace, there is no reason to expect better, especially since the race will be very tough on the mechanics. »